Dear Michigan AMC Winners,

To celebrate your outstanding achievements, you, your parents, and your teachers are cordially invited to the MAA-Michigan Awards Ceremony in recognition of the AMC winners, with Jerrold Grossman, a professor of mathematics at Oakland University. The ceremony will start with a short mathematical presentation by Professor Grossman and be followed by awards presentations.

Professor Grossman will ask the question: What day of the week is it? He will start with the unfortunate astronomical fact that the earth rotates approximately 365.2425 times on its axis for every one revolution around the sun. This fact, coupled with humankind's decision that each week should have 7 days, makes it unavoidable that our calendar is messy.

You are asked to prepare for the presentation by finishing this homework exercise: Determine exactly how many days old you will be on Friday, September 9, 2011, and use that fact to determine what day of the week you were born on.

The ceremony will be held at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Oakland University, on Friday, September 9th, from 6 to 8 p.m. Refreshments will be served. The event is supported by the American Mathematics Competitions and sponsored by Oakland University, the American Mathematical Society, Wolfram Research, and the Art of Problem Solving Foundation. Please refer to the program (in the green window on the right) for more details.

If you haven't done so, please email and tell me if you will be able to attend the awards ceremony. Siblings are welcome, but send me a note first please.

Remember to bring your cameras if you want to take pictures.